I'm going to Japan! Travel suggestions?

[lovefromsirius]

I don't know a single word of japanese and I managed okay for three weeks with the help of a friend.

I love love love milky way cafe in ikebukuro. I'm eternally sad they don't have one n the states. :C

[tikibirds]

I wanted to go to Fox Village too but from what I read, its not very accessiable unless you can drive in Japan. From Tokyo, a shinkansen ticket to whatever village is closest was $200 and then its like 30 miles by taxi. The cheapest would be a bus to Fukushima, spend the night somewhere and then take a train to the closest village, and then take a taxi. 

That is very reassuring to hear lol. I am trying to learn just enough so I do not seem very rude lol.
The one time I visited China I was also the only white woman I saw the whole trip haha.

I went solo to both China and Japan not knowing either langauge. I never really felt threatened being a female by myself in either country either.

To me, it seemed like the Chinese are way more blunt and can be mistaken for being rude by westerners but they also seemed more sincere and curious about westerners ( i can't tell you the amount of times I was asked "why are you so fat"). Im guessing its cause we are a novelty there. Whereas in Japan, they are very friendly as well, but I kinda got the feeling that it was just a cover act for a lot of people.

Once my eldery dog passes away, I plan on returning to Asia (hopefully to Japan this time. Although I wouldnt mind a larger city in China)

[shelvesofwhimsy]

I wanted to go to Fox Village too but from what I read, its not very accessiable unless you can drive in Japan. From Tokyo, a shinkansen ticket to whatever village is closest was $200 and then its like 30 miles by taxi. The cheapest would be a bus to Fukushima, spend the night somewhere and then take a train to the closest village, and then take a taxi. 

That is very reassuring to hear lol. I am trying to learn just enough so I do not seem very rude lol.
The one time I visited China I was also the only white woman I saw the whole trip haha.

I went solo to both China and Japan not knowing either langauge. I never really felt threatened being a female by myself in either country either.

To me, it seemed like the Chinese are way more blunt and can be mistaken for being rude by westerners but they also seemed more sincere and curious about westerners ( i can't tell you the amount of times I was asked "why are you so fat"). Im guessing its cause we are a novelty there. Whereas in Japan, they are very friendly as well, but I kinda got the feeling that it was just a cover act for a lot of people.

Once my eldery dog passes away, I plan on returning to Asia (hopefully to Japan this time. Although I wouldnt mind a larger city in China)

The fox village info is good to know! I thought it would be a train ride and then relatively easy to get to, but now I'm glad we are passing on it this trip

I had the weirdest/great experiences in china being a western woman lol. In Shenzen a group of older Chinese women just suddenly surrounded me in excited speaking and when I said "Hello" they all started giggling. And a lot of people also did the peace sign to me, and when I did it back what excitement hahaha. I was also told by one woman at a theme park "You are..beautiful" which was very sweet and also totally unexpected. I was called sir once though hahah. But in general everyone was very friendly, so I am hoping in Japan they will not turn us away because we're americans 

[Taffeta]

I would say in Tokyo you are fine with no Japanese language. I never used buses in Osaka, but the buses in Kyoto have (atrocious) English announcements and some stops have good English signage. The buses in Nara were very tourist friendly, the ones in Kobe were a lot less so (largely because finding the right bus stop was the first challenge). There are also a lot of different rail networks in different places and these are not always signed. Some areas only put in English on rail maps the places they think tourists want to go (not every place name).

There are good bus and area maps you can get from most mainline stations in big cities and people there speak English. When I was in Kyoto, though, I got asked a lot by non-Japanese whether a bus was going to a certain place or not, because they realised I could read the bus signs and they weren't all that clear to nonspeakers.

 It's worth mentioning that some stations in Kyoto do not have any English on the outside to indicate what they are (the Shijou Oomiya Randen station is one of the above). So being able to recognise some characters, even if you cannot read them, is helpful.

I saw wild tanuki on Ganryuujima. I suspect that might be even more annoying for you to get to, though, as it's only accessible from Shimonoseki or Moji by boat (and nobody in those places speaks much English except maybe the tourist information.

You don't need to be fluent in Japanese xD but it helps to have a few words and phrases before you go. And definitely being able to recognise a few characters (such as 入口 (entrance)　出口 (exit) and　手洗い (their polite public signage for toilet) will probably serve you well.

Also Suica is not accepted on the ferry from Hiroshima to Miyajima. Just in case you wanted to do that. Tokyo IC cards are not valid there (and possibly not valid in all of Hiroshima, I am not sure). The Kyoto Icoca Card is. The Hiroshima area has its own IC card, but while they tell you all these cards are interchangeable - they actually are not entirely.

In terms of friendliness, I found the Japanese friendly enough, but they were generally more actively friendly in the Kansai than in the Kantou (aside Kyoto which has a reputation for being less pushy about social interaction). But in general people were more friendly once they knew I spoke Japanese, so I think it was more a case that they were worried about being able to communicate than they were actively not wanting to be welcoming. Another reason why it is good to make the effort, even if just a very tiny bit. Although so long as you don't do anything stupid or embarrassing like talking loudly about pokemon in a temple or using your phone on the bus then you'll be fine.

Absolutely nobody gave me any hassle about being white or foreign, although sometimes people were very interested to know where I was from (especially in Takamatsu where I got the feeling not many people from overseas visited their museum).

[Rainbowrific Renia]

No advice since I haven't been to Japan yet, but I might have to hit you up for some goodies. I hope you have an awesome time!

[tikibirds]

OOh...There is a website called Hyperdia that can help with trains and subways. You put in the station you are at and where you want to go. It will tell you times, and prices.
As for buses, I only used them to go from my house to the train station until i found out how to walk there. I could use the Suica card for payments so no need to fiddle with their money but all signs and announcements were in Japanese, for the most part. The time schedule was the hardest to figure out. I had to match up Kanji from a leaflet I had to what was on the sign to figure out the times for the bus I wanted. Again, this was in the suburbs of Tokyo so buses in more tourist parts may be in English? They were in Beijing (but the announcements were made with a huge British accent that I couldn't really understand anyway).

I had the weirdest/great experiences in china being a western woman lol. In Shenzen a group of older Chinese women just suddenly surrounded me in excited speaking and when I said "Hello" they all started giggling. And a lot of people also did the peace sign to me, and when I did it back what excitement hahaha. I was also told by one woman at a theme park "You are..beautiful" which was very sweet and also totally unexpected. I was called sir once though hahah. But in general everyone was very friendly, so I am hoping in Japan they will not turn us away because we're americans 

I don't think either country has the non-discrimination laws that the USA has, but I didn't really have any issues like that, at least not in Japan. I did have a taxi driver refuse to pick me up in China and foreigners can only stay in certain hotels but that is because of some weird Chinese law (personally I think its because of the huge difference in standards between western hotels and cheap Chinese hotels) but they claim its because not all hotels have the ability to register foreigners with the local police..

[Taffeta]

This whole thread is really making me want to go back. Only the thought that Kyoto is apparently horrible in summer is keeping me at bay.

One other thing I should mention. Kyoto gets a lot (and I mean a lot) of Chinese tourists. During cherry blossom season they were so numerous that I heard more mandarin than Japanese on the streets of some of the more popular areas (like Gion) and the place was packed. I suspect it will be true in the summer too.

Another reason I tried to get to places tourists didn't go to so much, because it was just less crowded that way.

Ohara is a good (direct bus from the main station, bus 17) trip from Kyoto. It is very pretty. There are still tourists, especially at the big temple on the more populated side, but if you keep walking you can find temples where there are fewer visitors and which are just as pretty. Not having Japanese there is also not a problem so long as you can pay the (about) 500yen entry fees. Another good tip for this is Sagano (Randen from Shijou Omiya, or bus, or the Hankyuu may go there too I think). Although a lot of people go through the bamboo forests around Sagano and Arashiyama, if you keep walkiing you find yourself in Sagano proper, and there are a lot of more hidden temples in this area where you might escape the tourist hordes. Sagano's tourist shops often have local crafts and will frequently offer you a free cup of green tea while you browse.

There is also a really stunning view from the top of Takao at Jingoji temple, but that is trickier to get to. It's one of the Keihan buses to Takao Jingoji, but if it's hot you don't want to be climbing all around it.

[Lhianneth]

This whole thread is really making me want to go back. Only the thought that Kyoto is apparently horrible in summer is keeping me at bay.

One other thing I should mention. Kyoto gets a lot (and I mean a lot) of Chinese tourists. During cherry blossom season they were so numerous that I heard more mandarin than Japanese on the streets of some of the more popular areas (like Gion) and the place was packed. I suspect it will be true in the summer too.

Another reason I tried to get to places tourists didn't go to so much, because it was just less crowded that way.

Ohara is a good (direct bus from the main station, bus 17) trip from Kyoto. It is very pretty. There are still tourists, especially at the big temple on the more populated side, but if you keep walking you can find temples where there are fewer visitors and which are just as pretty. Not having Japanese there is also not a problem so long as you can pay the (about) 500yen entry fees. Another good tip for this is Sagano (Randen from Shijou Omiya, or bus, or the Hankyuu may go there too I think). Although a lot of people go through the bamboo forests around Sagano and Arashiyama, if you keep walkiing you find yourself in Sagano proper, and there are a lot of more hidden temples in this area where you might escape the tourist hordes. Sagano's tourist shops often have local crafts and will frequently offer you a free cup of green tea while you browse.

There is also a really stunning view from the top of Takao at Jingoji temple, but that is trickier to get to. It's one of the Keihan buses to Takao Jingoji, but if it's hot you don't want to be climbing all around it.

This is more common just in general, from my understanding. A friend who lives in Tokyo said that you used to get tour busses, but now you get just whole suburbs full at once of Chinese tour groups. The increasing middle class and nouveau riche phenomenon means that Chinese tourists are hitting Japan for weekend trips these days, as well as extended stays and tours. He said that there are also a lot of Chinese students coming over (all of the conbini in his area on this trip were were staffed by young Chinese uni kids, for example; in 2014, there was one Chinese woman, and Indian man, and the rest were Japanese).

I also noticed on the most recent trip that they now have signs in Chinese everywhere accepting Alipay and UnionPay. It was fascinating to compare this trip to our last in that regard, actually. The last trip, we saw almost exclusively Japanese and English signage, with the English restricted to tourist-y areas. This time, we saw more signage, in English and Chinese, usually larger than the Japanese notices.